— from an interview from a recent issue of Dance Notes.
 
Was your wedding a big dance affair?

Shalene: It was quite a dance affair. We were married in a beautiful botanical garden, and then the reception and the dance was in the botanic hall.

Ben: There must have been 50 or 60 combined U.S. titles at our wedding reception.

Shalene: It was very exciting! And it was certainly well represented by the dance community. The staff was just amazed watching all these dancers twirl around the floor. It was beautiful.

Did you do a wedding dance?

Ben: Yes, it was a foxtrot, You Are My Love by Nat King Cole.

Did you have special choreography?

Ben: Actually, we went to Arthur Murray, and we had them work on it for us.

Shalene: NO! We just did a nice bronze foxtrot.

Ben: It was one of the most basic things we've ever done. It was what we do when we go out and social dance.

Shalene: We enjoy being close to each other. That's really what it's about.

Do you plan to have children?

Shalene: No. Actually, my children are my men. I'm just a big mother hen. I absolutely love my boys and they give me so much. I'm so proud, and I think all of my mothering instincts are fulfilled through my teaching. We really don't have plans to have children. I would like to be an aunt. I would like nieces and nephews, to enjoy and then send them home.

You're ranked second in the United States in the American Smooth division, and you've been second for quite a while now. How does that feel?

Ben: We don't even think about the fact that we've been second for a while; we're focused on the fact that we're improving and getting better. We're second to people that are great dancers, and they're getting better and improving also. For the past couple years we've been in a position where at least we've been chasing a little more than we're being chased. That's been a comfortable spot for us. There are a lot of good couples coming up behind us now. Making big, big improvements, so we've got to get in gear.

Do you feel that you put yourself mentally in second place, and it's going to be hard to get out of it?

Ben: Oh, no, no. In fact, the last three or four competitions, things have been quite a bit closer and we see that we're gaining ground. That's inspirational.

Shalene: Feedback from the judges, our peers, and people that we really respect, has been so positive that we feel that we're doing anything but stagnating. We're very excited about the fact that the marks are reflecting that we're getting very close.

Ben: We're working with people that we really believe in and we trust the path that we're on. That's what's important. We're not meandering. If it's not what the judges care for, we can't control that. We're moving towards our goal. We're ready for a lot of new things to happen.

Shalene: There is a place in our minds that we want our dancing to go. And we know that we're nowhere near that right now. So we're going to continue dancing until we reach that point.